Friday, December 02, 2005

Until We Have Faces

In this episode of "Too Much Time On Her Hands," our intrepid heroine designs her own Yahoo! alter ego.

Meet my new Yahoo! avatar. "This day have I begotten thee."

In the interest of truth in advertising, I should note here that:

1. I have never been this thin in my entire life.
2. My legs have never been this long in my entire life.
3. I have not been this young in -- oh -- 20 years.
4. I do not in any way have a face like a Bratz doll.

Other than these minor points...spittin' image. You betcha.

(The avatars are also animated, and you can choose their facial expressions. It's fun to play with these. There's an option called "Special," intended to convey one's romantic interest in another party; it makes LC Jr. look as if she's suffering from Tourette's Syndrome or doing a really lame Elvis impersonation, so I think I'm sticking with the benign smile option.)

Avatars are a new Yahoo! feature -- for persons who game or instant-message or whatnot, you can now do so with an avatar. I don't do any of these things, but creating one looked like a fun exercise. And I used to own one of those amusing dress-up refrigerator magnets, so I felt that I had the technical expertise to accessorize a mini-me.

Some thoughts in the course of this process:

Why is it that Yahoo! assumes all women want to look like Bratz dolls?

Where are the middle-aged and older people? Where's the gray-hair option? How about the thick-torso option?

It's somewhat ironic that Yahoo! has unveiled this new feature just as doctors have successfully completed a face transplant. Both things can get you to thinking about how much of what constitutes "me" is visual in nature.

Hey -- I yam what I yam. And this avatar ain't me. But since I am a Shy Person, and will not be posting my own mug here anytime soon, feel free to envision me thusly. At least the snow and the boots are accurate. Nice Advent-y background colors too.

Yahoo! Avatars

11 comments:

Unknown said...

I'll make one as soon as they add the option for an expansive derriere!

Anonymous said...

I'll always think of you like that now, LC!!

LutheranChik said...

Songbird: Alas, no booty option. Maybe it's because this is the Beta version.

Nic: Well..she is kinda cute...

Anonymous said...

I designed my Yahoo avatar the other day. I was pretty ticked off that there was no way to change the basic body shape, since I have never been nor will ever be as thin as that. I looked around the Avatar site for a way to contact the Yahoo staff to complain, but couldn't find an email address or comment form.

LutheranChik said...

Funny how that works...you can never find an e-mail on TV network websites either, without a lot of work.

Real avatars for real people!

LutheranChik said...

Ah...if you go to the Yahoo! Avatars page, then to the bottom, click on feedback. I sent them a suggestion that diversity is a good thing.

Anonymous said...

I don't see "feedback". At the bottom I have "Privacy Policy", "Terms of Service", "Guidelines" and "Help". This is on the main Avatars page, like when I log into my email, then click on my Avatar's face. Is that where you are? Maybe my page is different because it's yahoo.ca ??

Anonymous said...

I, a RL eyewitness, can testify: the face is pretty darn close! ;-p

[For some reason, I can really picture LC in that scarf, too... *g*]

Emily said...

I made one, too--I love playing with it, it is like a dress-up doll.

LutheranChik said...

Emily: It really is [shamefaced grin].

J.C. I think I'm going to tape LC Jr. on my refrigerator, and carry her around when I lug my carcass around the community arena gym (my free alternative to a health club membership), as a motivational tool. And, yes, I thought the scarf was quite jaunty.;-)

Tom in Ontario said...

You inspired me. I put mine up on my blog but I look really short in front of my workstation and not nearly heavy enough. I'm 6'1" and around 240#s. The guy in my avatar (who's supposed to be me) looks about 5'2" and 130#s.